Hiroaki Umeda (Japan)

“while going to a condition” followed by “Duo” 

Choreography and performance: Hiroaki Umeda
Sound: S20
Visual Creation: S20
Production: S20
Supported by: EU Japan Fest

In “while going to a condition”, time, punctuated by silences, dilates and triggers a sense of disorientation. The artist’s aim is to bring the spectator to experience the time of the piece in a particular way: both slow and rapid movements will give rhythm to the slow transformation occurring on stage, like a passage from one state to another. Used as the source of light, video creates a kind of magnetic force which the audience will feel and experience live.

“Duo” is a solo performance and acts as a confrontation between rivals, a trial for the dancer, hampered by the powerful attraction of the image…By presenting dance and images of dance in parallel, Hiroaki Umeda’s aim was to portray the boundaries between the real and unreal.

Hiroaki Umeda is a choreographer and a multidisciplinary artist now recognized as one of the leading figures of the Japanese avant-garde art scene. Since the launch of his company S20 in 2000, his subtle yet violent dance pieces have toured around the world to audience and critical acclaim. His work is acknowledged for the highly holistic artistic methodology with strong digital background, which considers not only physical elements as dance, but also optical, sonal, sensorial and, above all, spatiotemporal components as part and parcel of the choreography.

Born in Tokyo, 1977, Umeda first studied photography at the Nihon University in Tokyo. At the age of 20, he gained interest in art more suitable for creating intense bodily experiences, which he is now known for, and started taking numerous dance classes such as ballet, hip-hop, modern dance and so on. In 2002, his ever-popular work while going to a condition received great acclaim at Yokohama Dance Collection R (Yokohama, Japan) and was immediately invited to RencontresChoréographiquesInternationales (Paris).

Tickets: http://www.bilesuparadize.lv/organizers/152